\u2018Subjugated knowledges,\u2019 a term coined by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, refers to information coming from people in underrepresented groups that is discounted by a powerful majority, which claims that these perspectives are inadequate or insufficiently developed.<\/p>\n
Brock University linguist Jean Ntakirutimana is passionate about drawing out subjugated knowledges, both within the context of his own research and as part of wider projects with the Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity members are brimming with a wealth of talents and knowledge, always available to anybody willing to listen and learn,\u201d says the Associate Professor. \u201cI am always open to any opportunity to work with them, and my research has greatly benefited from the profuse generosity of community partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ntakirutimana is an affiliated member of Brock\u2019s Social Justice Research Institute (SJRI). He is among some two dozen researchers, government organizations, community groups and others working together to draw out the subjugated knowledges of Niagarans of African descent and foreign-born persons.<\/p>\n
The project, which is in its very early stages of planning, aims to collect information in three key areas: childhood and growing up; health literacy; and identity, connections and belonging.<\/p>\n
\u201cVoices that have been long excluded from the dominant knowledge framework will be heard through this initiative,\u201d says Ntakirutimana, who shared the basic research outline during a talk at the St. Catharines Public Library Feb. 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese voices will not only enrich public discussion and create original scholarship on a wide range of issues but will also contribute to insights and practical tools organizations can use to develop culturally responsive services and interventions,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Ntakirutimana says tapping into subjugated knowledges and understanding people\u2019s lived experience enriches his own linguistics research. This is the case even if the subject matter of this community-based information \u201cis not necessarily my area of specialization,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
As an example, Ntakirutimana \u2013 who is a French language expert \u2013 refers to the experience of Francophone immigrants settling in the Francophone community of Welland.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey speak French, but they speak other languages, too, and their varieties of French may not be the same as the local French dialect,\u201d says Ntakirutimana.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Francophone immigrants are already struggling because they\u2019re a minority in a majority of English speakers,\u201d he says, adding that some newcomers also don\u2019t feel they fit in with the Welland Francophone community, and they aren\u2019t able to receive services in their mother tongue.<\/p>\n
The children, who are also facing challenges in the new environment, often end up acting as translators during their parents\u2019 medical or legal appointments, forcing them to take on an adult role, says Ntakirutimana.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy strong connections with community partners allow me to approach immigrant language issues with an interdisciplinary lens. It provides a deeper insight into my research by reminding me that it should never be conducted in a vacuum, but should rather incorporate lived experience, from real people living in an intersectional ecosystem.\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Ntakirutimana has had many years of working with almost a dozen community groups, involving them with the co-creation of knowledge and co-presenting research results at conferences and other events.<\/p>\n
In particular, he has a strong connection with Sofifran<\/a>, a Welland-based, non-profit community organization created in 2007 by French-speaking immigrant women living in the Niagara region and originating from various parts of the world.<\/p>\n Throughout the years, Ntakirutimana has co-organized more than 20 events with Sofifran, including conferences, exhibitions, performances, book launches, and book fairs, among others.<\/p>\n He also formed local and national partnerships when creating two experiential learning projects related to the 2022 Canada Games: the French Documentation and Terminology<\/a> course he taught; and a French Internship Course<\/a>.<\/p>\n When working with the community, Ntakirutimana says he is guided by the Community-Based Participatory Research principles, where community members are regarded as equal knowledge holders and creators, and should be actively involved in any research initiative involving them, according to the ethos of \u201cNothing about us without us,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018Subjugated knowledges,\u2019 a term coined by the French philosopher Michel Foucault, refers to information coming from people in underrepresented groups that is discounted by a powerful majority, which claims that these perspectives are inadequate or insufficiently developed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":92025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9794,37,1,5],"tags":[6071,4625],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92024"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92024"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92093,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92024\/revisions\/92093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}